Hurricane discussion; Red flags are flying!

[newt]

The J-24 in picture 3833 was the yacht that my wife took basic in... it must of taught hundreds of beginning sailors that came down to Bay Area sailing school... May it rest in peace.
Kemah was a nice little sailing town. I hope it bounces back quickly.

[Steve H]

It will , power is back on in most places , trash service is running and  mcdonalds is open .
the boardwalk will be a little longer but kemah will be fine .

[CharlieJ]

A few pictures and a link, from the Houston Yacht Club. This is where I first stepped on a sailboat in 1957

http://www.byrneartandphoto.com/photo/events/2008_ike/index.html

[AdriftAtSea]

That can't be good...

[pura vida]

Hello All,

It has been a long time since I posted, but a couple of thoughts on Ike from Watergate Marina. Most of the damage was done in the area that was open to Clear Lake. My 27 was tucked safely in the back corner and other than having a fender blown up on deck there was no way to tell anything happened. Sadly many of the boats that were facing Clear Lake were on old, fixed piers and suffered a lot of damage. I'm sold on two things now, floating piers and closed harbors. Legend Point ( as Steve pointed out), Waterford, Southshore were all OK. Most exposed marinas or marina with exposed areas were not. Some of the big boats tied at pier 4 pounded to pier apart. The second thing I noticed is piling height. The pilings on the floating piers had scratchmarks about ten feet or so above the normal height of the dock giving an idea what the surge did there. I hear that surge at Bayland was high enough for a whole group of boats and dock to float off in a single raft as they floated above the tops of the pilings, but that is just hearsay at this point.  A number of boats were damaged when they floated above the short pilings and then dropped back onto the dock as the water left the bay. There was one small Alberg that was worth noting. It was in a slip for a much bigger boat. The tide risers were bent but the boat was in very good shape. All of the 45 foot plus boats around it were knocked around badly.

All the best
mike

[Captain Smollett]

I hear that surge at Bayland was high enough for a whole group of boats and dock to float off in a single raft as they floated above the tops of the pilings, but that is just hearsay at this point. 

I"m not 100% sure if it's the same location you are referring to, but I've seen some pics of such a raft that blew ashore as one big body.

Sorry, I've looked at so many links to pics from the aftermath in the past few days that I cannot remember where I saw this particular pictures.

[CharlieJ]

Glad you fared well. That's really great news.

The boats floating off the pilings isn't hearsay- that was in Baytown and the entire marina came loose. A friend of mine keeps his PSC 25 there. Here's some pics

his boat-note the rollers around the hole where the piling once was



the empty pilings- the line of boats in the background are the ones that used to sit around these pilings-



some other of the boats from close up

[pura vida]

I wrote a paper about storm surge in Galveston bay almost six months ago. I'm surprised at looking at this photo of the piling height that the owners of Bayland didn't know how high it would get there. I'm not a hydrologist or a meteorologist (I wrote the paper as part of a writing class), but this kind of information is readily available to anyone bothering to look. If Ike had been a four or five I10 at Anahuac would be washed away. At least most of them look as if they landed on somthing soft. Great photos, thanks.

[s/v Faith]

Found another  great 'oneclick' hurricane tracking site.

  Take a look at; Bear Paws Weather

If there is available data there you want, I don't know what it would be.

[s/v Faith]

Ida Ida, go and Hide (a)!!!

  She was supposed to fizzle, but the latest advisory says she is coming ashore as a Cat 2 on Tuesday!

Prayers are appreciated,

  Thanks!

[Frank]

Seems fairly late for a 'named' system. With luck it'll soften before then.Prayers are with ya and all in its path.

[Captain Smollett]

Ida Ida, go and Hide (a)!!!

  She was supposed to fizzle, but the latest advisory says she is coming ashore as a Cat 2 on Tuesday!

Prayers are appreciated,

  Thanks!

Batten 'em down, Craig.  We'll be thinking and praying for you and everyone in Ida's path.

[Tim]

Ida Ida, go and Hide (a)!!!

  She was supposed to fizzle, but the latest advisory says she is coming ashore as a Cat 2 on Tuesday!

Prayers are appreciated,

  Thanks!

You betcha, been thinking about you guys all day since seeing the forecasts this morning, keep us informed.

[polecat]

Craig -
  We're still praying for a fizzle out - good luck
jim

[Frank]

I get up this morning and the MSN home page news says "Ida weakens as it approachs gulf coast" Hope it keeps weakening and here's one for prayer  ;)

[Navyvet]

Craig let me know if you need some help getting Faith ready more then willing to help you out.

[s/v Faith]

Craig let me know if you need some help getting Faith ready more then willing to help you out.

Thanks Dave,

  Just got back home, sails are down, lines are doubled up.  Good timing, as both of my slip neighbors were down there (alone) and both were taking down their jibs with gusty winds.  Was able to give both a hand and coordinate the securing of the boats.

  Got back in the car to hear that Ida has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm.  Yea!

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts.   ;D

  Grog to all.   ;)

[CharlieJ]

We are quite glad also. Sitting inVenice Fl , riding to two anchors out front. Winds have been over 20, gusting near or over 30, for over three days now. First several days from the north, today hard from the east.

We've been watching Ida since it was born believe me.

Best of luck to our several friends who have boats in the P'cola area.

[newt]

Charlie- You made it to Venice- one of my favorite towns! Did you get to Crow's Nest? Are you next to the city dock? I will hope that blow doesn't come back up the coast. We will be hoping for ya.

[CharlieJ]

Yep- anchored off the city dock. Winds have been fairly stiff since we got here on Thursday. We've been on two anchors the entire time. Winds over 20 except at night and gusting over 30. Nothing to do with Ida either. From the high sitting over N Fl they say.

Walked past the Crow's Nest but haven't been in- we don't often spend money in restaurants ;) Living on Soc Sec ya know-grin.

The annual art festival was downtown on Saturday and we dropped plenty there buying Christmas gifts.

We HAVE walked the beach quite a bit and found some of the advertised sharks teeth. Way to ugly today for that though.

By the way- this really belongs on our cruising on Tehani thread. We shouldn't clog the hurricane thread with more cruising discussion. Although I suppose this one is sorta related. Grin.